The advent of military forums exposed the extent to which myths become received wisdom within the British Armed Forces,one of these myths is that,second hand,General Dynamics Land Systems Abrams Main Battle Tanks are a fraction of the cost of upgraded Challenger 2 tanks,herein we shall look at how much other countries pay for Abrams purchased via Foreign Military Sales (Assault Breacher Vehicles,Joint Assault Bridges and Hercules Combat Recovery Vehicles are included in the figures).
The sale to Poland of two hundred and ninety-three Abrams Main Battle Tanks,Hercules Combat Recovery Vehicles,Joint Assault Bridges and associated items for six thousand million United States' dollars was approved on the Seventeenth of February,Twenty Twenty-two.
The sale to Australia of one hundred and twenty-eight Abrams Main Battle Tanks,Assault Breacher Vehicles,Joint Assault Bridges,Hercules Combat Recovery Vehicles and associated items for one thousand six hundred and eighty-five million United States' dollars was approved on the Twenty-ninth of April,Twenty Twenty-one.
The sale to Taiwan of one hundred and twenty-two Abrams Main Battle Tanks,Hercules Combat Recovery Vehicles and associated items for two thousand million United States' dollars was approved on the Eighth of July,Twenty Nineteen.
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These three recent Foreign Military Sales approvals total nine thousand six hundred and eighty-five million dollars for five hundred and forty-three Abrams Main Battle Tanks,Assault Breacher Vehicles,Joint Assault Bridges,Hercules Combat Recovery Vehicles and associated items,an average of just over seventeen million eight hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars per armoured vehicle,which at current exchange rates is just over thirteen million five hundred and twenty-two thousand pounds sterling each.
In contrast,the Challenger 3 upgrade is costing eight hundred million pounds sterling for one hundred and forty-eight vehicles or just over five million four hundred and five thousand pounds per unit,less than half the cost of a second hand Abrams (it would have cost even less without the obsolescent Rheinmetall Rh-120 L/55 120mm gun,yet another example of quantity being sacrificed in the pursuit of fashion).
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